Davis begins by sharing a story of when she was a young girl. “I remember entering the beauty supply shop at 4-years-old and eyeing the Just For Me home relaxer box with a picture of a black girl about my age. She looked just like except her hair was silky straight,” said the Seattle-born model. Davis begged her grandmother to buy her the relaxer at her young age, and her grandmother complied. “Despite the burn of chemicals on my scalp and the smell of sulfur that filled the room, I was entranced at the prospect of having straight hair. It was beautiful. It was celebrated. And I with my kinky coils felt inadequate."

Davis admits that she spent thousands of dollars on relaxers to get her hair straight, and on weaves and extensions to make her hair fuller and longer. Personally as an African-American female working in the beauty industry, I can relate to the desire of wanting longer hair and getting extensions to unconsciously assimilate with everyone else. “I didn’t realize it then, but I was gripped by insecurity at the tender age of four and it stayed with me into adulthood,” says Davis. “To be born black in America is to be born into a world that makes you feel inferior before you can even take your first step.”

After Davis made decision to wear her hair natural a little over a year ago, her agency responded with, “What are you doing with your hair?...Clients will never book you like that.”

Ebonee didn’t want to be labeled as being difficult to work with so she stayed silent. But then something major happened and she had to take a stance on being black in America. The same day that her Calvin Klein Fall 2016 campaign was released (July 5, 2016), Alton Sterling was murdered.

The tragic and senseless murder of a black man by police and the unfortunate juxtaposition of her Calvin Klein ad inspired Davis to write an open letter. But, these days, Davis is all about self-love. "The message I want to emphasize is self-love," she tells Allure. "I was conforming to a Eurocentric beauty standard and ultimately that's a system of oppression that keeps me from being able to appreciate what I have been given by God. Ultimately, I want people to decolonize their minds and deprogram themselves from the social programming that keeps people feeling insecure, having a low self-esteem and not loving themselves."

Watch Ebonee Davis's TED Talk below and be inspired to speak up:

Now, check out this inspiring ballerina's solution to a major challenge for dancers of color: